Workers From U.s. Missing

August 4, 1990|The New York Times

WASHINGTON -- Fourteen oil workers from the United States are missing in Kuwait, and there are reports that at least some of them may have been taken into custody by Iraqi troops and moved across the border into Iraq, Bush administration officials said on Friday.

``We cannot confirm that the missing Americans are in Iraqi control, but we believe they are,`` said Richard Boucher, a State Department spokesman. ``We are continuing to press the government of Iraq for information on their whereabouts.``

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the administration was aware of reports ``of people being rounded up or Americans being held in one place or another, and at this point we cannot confirm any of those reports.``

On Thursday, President Bush warned that the United States would respond in a ``very dramatic way`` if the missing oil workers or other U.S. citizens in Kuwait were harmed.

``A fundamental responsibility of my presidency is protecting American citizens,`` he said.

On Friday, the State Department advised U.S. civilians in Kuwait and Iraq to leave those countries as quickly as possible.

For the moment, that appeard to be impossible for the nearly 3,800 U.S. citizens who are said to have been living in Kuwait.

The nation`s international airport was reported to have been bombed by Iraqi jets during Thursday`s invasion and has since been closed to commercial traffic.

Administration officials said Iraq had also closed all of Kuwait`s land and sea borders.

The State Department said about 500 U.S. citizens were in Iraq, of whom about 50 were diplomats, other government officials and their families.

Asked why U.S. civilians in Iraq were being asked to leave, Boucher said an executive order signed by Bush after the invasion barred U.S. citizens from most commerical transactions with the Baghdad government, and that for U.S. business people remaining in Iraq, ``there would be very little for them to do there.``

Administration officials said several of the missing workers were employed by Santa Fe International, a California-based oil and gas company that was acquired by the Kuwaiti government in 1981 for $2.5 billion.

The State Department said on Friday that employees at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait were safe and that Iraqi forces had not attempted to enter the diplomatic compound.